Reportedly, the head of FIDE played a game of chess with the Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan after the opening ceremony of the Contenders Tournament.
" We went in the VIP-room when Sargsyan made the first move in the Giri vs Aronian game. I invited him to play the five minutes blitz game. Mr Sargsyan played white d2-d4; I responded with Kf6. We played Ufimtsev defence in a slightly different way", said Ilyumzhinov, commenting on the details of the fight.
Sargsyan played successful debut and mittershpil, which gave him an advantage.
"He pinched my pieces. I took a long thought and I let my ‘flag fall’ (ran out of time) and lost the game. Mr Sargsyan is in a very good shape. He is playing greatly and profoundly knows the theory. It so happened that Armenia defeated FIDE ", summed Ilyumzhinov.
